Links for The Game That Used to be the Iron Bowl

Links to whet your appetite for this week:
— In all of his honest, animated glory, Nick Saban tells reporters "it's not just a game." Thank you, sir. You may have figured this thing out after all.
— As he always does, Gump 4 Heisman delivers the goods with a column about why Nick Saban shouldn't smile. I mean, ever.

What if a small child saw Nick Saban smile? While he was building a treehouse? And then what if he thought ‘Eh, I’ve done enough.’ And then what if he thought ‘I’m going to sit back and enjoy my treehouse.’ And then what if he tried to climb his unfinished treehouse and broke his leg?
Do you want small children to break their legs? Then don’t ask Nick Saban to smile.

— As only he can, Cecil takes time from reporting on the Alabama basketball disaster to reflect on the Auburn-'Bama recent history.
(By the way, I didn't stay up to watch last night's debacle in Maui, but I heard from my friend Zach, an Auburn fan, "'Bama doesn't have any offensive plays other than isos." Wait ... what year is this again?)
— Fans on the game: RBR wants you to turn it up a notch, and PMR blogs about his hatred of Auburn, at least for the time being.
— Continuing his tradition of kicking whoever's down at the moment, Finebaum says Auburn shouldn't show up. Well-done, sir. Well-done.
— This isn't a link, but I figured I should share an email from my cousin's husband, Jamie, in preparation for the upcoming weekend.

I wish people would quit saying "throw out the records." One of many college football myths. The better team usually wins and I see nothing different Saturday. Emotions will keep it close, and if our coaches were into it, i'd feel better but they are not. A friend who works in the Ath Dept took some balls for TT to sign where coach promply responded "Not sure if they want these, I may not be here in 2 weeks." This is a bad attitude considering you are playing a team coached by a man who is more "into it" than any I have ever seen. I guarantee you Nick Saban has no idea Thanksgiving is this week.
I see a game much like 2004 in reverse. These teams are not real close. bama has the leadership, confidence, superior coaching and better QB, WR, RB, TE, DB's, Kickers and as good or better everywhere else. I just don't see how it can happen for us.
ua 23, AU 10
BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back with more later.

wlh